vhf dsc radios

[little shack]

Hi folks Just a quick one have a nasa SX 35 dsc radio this was already on a boat I've bought.Is this model quite old I seem to be having trouble broadcasting on it any dastance line of sight really.If it's an old model it may be at the end of it's life and I shall replace it.shall be trying a different airiel next week see if that makes any difference.any thought would be welcome

 

[PetiteFleur]

I've always found that the aerial connections have to be spot on. In particular any deck connections are always suspect. Check them all and if the copper wire have gone black at the connections strip them back to clean copper. Alternatively get expensive cable which has tinned copper braid.

 

[Billjratt]

If it's DSC it can't be that old! (there are plenty of really old radios out there working well)
VHF is a line-of-sight (more or less) frequency band.
If it draws about 5 amps from the battery when you transmit at 25 watts, it's working.

 

[rafiki_]

I have the same, and mine is good for at least 15 Nm.

 

[Searush]

Aerial is most likely problem but it could also be the power supply if it works OK on low power. Do you have a spare or emergency aerial to test it with?

 

[Salty John]

A good idea to check the aerial system before assuming the radio is faulty. Here's some basic information that should help with troubleshooting:
http://www.saltyjohn.co.uk/resources/Troubleshooting your VHF antenna system.pdf

 

[rickym]

Try your emergency aerial first.

 

[little shack]

thanks folks should be enough there to sort the problem shall start next time at the boat.

 

[Plevier]

I had one of those, it gave very good range and quite good clarity. I think range faults are much more often aerial/cable than radio.
It's a re-badged MTech (or MMTech? I forget) you can easily find the manual on their site if you haven't got it.